Asphalt-surfaced roadways have been built to facilitate vehicular travel. Depending upon usage density, base conditions, temperature variation, moisture variation, and/or physical age, the surface of the roadways can eventually become misshapen, non-planar, unable to support wheel loads, or otherwise unsuitable for vehicular traffic. In order to rehabilitate the roadways for continued vehicular use, spent asphalt is removed in preparation for resurfacing.
Cold planers, sometimes also called road mills or scarifiers, are machines that typically include a frame quadrilaterally supported by tracked or wheeled drive units. The frame supports an engine, an operator's station, and a milling drum. The milling drum, fitted with cutting tools, is rotated through a suitable interface by the engine to break up the surface of the roadway.
During the milling process, dust is produced by the cutting tools that can be a nuisance to machine operators. In addition, bituminous vapors may be produced due to high temperature friction of the cutting tools.
One attempt to control the dust and vapors produced during roadway milling is disclosed in U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. US 2010/0327651 (“the '651 publication”), published on Dec. 30, 2010, and submitted by Cipriani et al. In particular, the '651 publication discloses a means of sealing the dust and vapors produced during the milling process from exiting the milling machine prior to the point of discharge of the milled road material. The sealing means create a continuous chamber above material conveyors and in a joint connection area among them. The continuous chamber is designed to be free from external air channels and is formed by sidewalls of the milling drum housing, a rear mouldboard and side plates. A suction device is located on the milling machine and connected to the continuous chamber. The suction device is able to create a depression that draws dust and polluted air from the continuous chamber, and routes the same to a filtering and discharge system.
Although the system of the '651 publication may be capable of controlling dust and fumes generated during the roadway milling process, the system may still be problematic. In particular, an efficiency of the suction device is dependent upon the continuous chamber being well-sealed. As it is presently constituted, the sealing means of the '652 publication includes a multitude of components. Given the number of sealing components associated with the continuous chamber it is likely that gaps in the sealing means will arise overtime. In addition, on account of the number of components involved and the degree of customization of the components specific to a unique milling machine model, it is unlikely that the suction system of the '652 publication could easily be applied and/or retrofitted to other models of milling machines.
The cold planer and exhaust system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.